DOI Heft:
No. 1
DOI Artikel:Stechow, Wolfgang: Addenda to "The Love of Antiochus with Faire Stratonica"
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17159#0012
face, which shows the most beautiful profile, one discerns chastity but at the same time pleased
subjection to the order of the king. She has the tenderness of her sex, the majesty of a queen,
the reverence appropriatc to a holy action and all the wisdom of bearing which was reąuired
in a situation as delicate and extraordinary as this".
„The largest amount of light is concentrated upon Stratonice, the main personage, who is
the first to draw the attention of the spectator. The priest (here Winckelmann is referring to
what is really the figurę of Seleucus) is standing in a secondary Hght but he is accented by
the action reserved for him: he is the speaker, and outside of him, there reigns generał quiet
and attention. The prince who deserves an emphasis secondary only to the main actor, is gran-
ted more light; andalthough the artist's wisdom gave compositional predominance to a beautiful
cpieen over a sick prince — who by virtue of the story itself miglit have been eligible for such
predominance — it is the latter who turns out to be the most excellent part of the picture
as far as expression is concerned. The greatest secrets of art are displayed on his face —ąualities
contrasting witheach other, are fused in one peaceful calm. On his pale face, recovery is inti-
mated, comparable to the first glimpses of dawn which, under the veil of darkness
itself, seem to promise a new and beautiful day".
Of the vases Winckelmann says that they are „modelled after the best ancient works of the
kind"; as to the table in front of the bed, the artist, „like Homer, made it of ivory". The back-
ground shows ,,a splendid Greek architecture" and the architectural decoration „seems to
refer to the action itself. The entablature of a portal is supported by caryatids who
embrace each other as images of tender friendship between father and son and at the same time,
of conjugal bonds. Besides rendering his story truthfully, the artist shows himself to be a poet,
and he fashioned his incidentals allegorically in order to depict certain circumstances by way
of emblems. The sphinxes decorating the bed of the prince refer to medical investigation and
specifically, to the discovery of the cause of Antiochus malady."
There are few today, I think, who would not prefer the Schwerin-Poznań and Amsterdam
compositions to the large canvas in Karlsruhe. The grouping of the main figures is much more
effective, and in particular, Seleucus gesture of the cession of his wife and his kingdom is infi-
nitely more dignified. Surely, de Lairesse's seventeenth century classicism was here not too far
removed from the ideals of the greatest propagator of eighteenth century classicism, and the
position of the hollandized Walloon de Lairesse as a mediator between the elassicistie currents
of the two centuries is vividly illustrated by this very fact.
When seen within the entire rangę of representations of the story, de Lairesse's picture can
be shown to have conspicuously neglected the role of the physician, Erasistratus, who here
appears as a mere stand — in behind the figurę of the noble queen. In the main example of the
Italian elassicistie tradition of the Seicento, that of Piętro da Cortona — which de Lairesse
undonbtedly knew — considerable emphasis was laid on the discovery of the cause of the youth's
malady by the physician, who was represented taking his pulse and watching him closely10. In
fact, in a few compof itions this feature of the story took precedence over the cession of Strato-
nice by her husband (Celesti or Behicci11, Sebastiano Ricci)12. But in generał, artists endea-
vored to combine both main points as convincingly ;-.nd successfully as possible, even
though it is evident that this can be done only at the cost of a strictly rea-
listic rendering, i.e., with the help of a „telescoping" device such as the elaspicistie
tradition was wont to tolerate, even to prefer, and which it had even learnt to reconcile with
10 . Florence, Pallazzo Pi tti, Sala di Ycnere; St., p. 227 and fig. 3. The coupling of our subject with olher examplcs of heroic
continence whicjl is found in this decoration was continued in seventeenth century Flemish tapestries; see the various
series ofthis kind mentionri in J.Denuce. Antwerp Art-Tapestry and Trade(Hislorical Sourc£f for the Siudy of Flemisk
Art, IV), Antwerp, 1936, index s.v. Antiochus.
11. Kassel, Cat. 1958, n° 527 as Belucci; St., p. 228 and fig. 4 as Celesti. This may have been model of Goethe's Wilhelm
Meister painting: but sec St., p. 233 f.
12. Parma,Universitity; St. p. 228 and fig. 5. See also the picture by Simone Pignor' discussed below.
6
subjection to the order of the king. She has the tenderness of her sex, the majesty of a queen,
the reverence appropriatc to a holy action and all the wisdom of bearing which was reąuired
in a situation as delicate and extraordinary as this".
„The largest amount of light is concentrated upon Stratonice, the main personage, who is
the first to draw the attention of the spectator. The priest (here Winckelmann is referring to
what is really the figurę of Seleucus) is standing in a secondary Hght but he is accented by
the action reserved for him: he is the speaker, and outside of him, there reigns generał quiet
and attention. The prince who deserves an emphasis secondary only to the main actor, is gran-
ted more light; andalthough the artist's wisdom gave compositional predominance to a beautiful
cpieen over a sick prince — who by virtue of the story itself miglit have been eligible for such
predominance — it is the latter who turns out to be the most excellent part of the picture
as far as expression is concerned. The greatest secrets of art are displayed on his face —ąualities
contrasting witheach other, are fused in one peaceful calm. On his pale face, recovery is inti-
mated, comparable to the first glimpses of dawn which, under the veil of darkness
itself, seem to promise a new and beautiful day".
Of the vases Winckelmann says that they are „modelled after the best ancient works of the
kind"; as to the table in front of the bed, the artist, „like Homer, made it of ivory". The back-
ground shows ,,a splendid Greek architecture" and the architectural decoration „seems to
refer to the action itself. The entablature of a portal is supported by caryatids who
embrace each other as images of tender friendship between father and son and at the same time,
of conjugal bonds. Besides rendering his story truthfully, the artist shows himself to be a poet,
and he fashioned his incidentals allegorically in order to depict certain circumstances by way
of emblems. The sphinxes decorating the bed of the prince refer to medical investigation and
specifically, to the discovery of the cause of Antiochus malady."
There are few today, I think, who would not prefer the Schwerin-Poznań and Amsterdam
compositions to the large canvas in Karlsruhe. The grouping of the main figures is much more
effective, and in particular, Seleucus gesture of the cession of his wife and his kingdom is infi-
nitely more dignified. Surely, de Lairesse's seventeenth century classicism was here not too far
removed from the ideals of the greatest propagator of eighteenth century classicism, and the
position of the hollandized Walloon de Lairesse as a mediator between the elassicistie currents
of the two centuries is vividly illustrated by this very fact.
When seen within the entire rangę of representations of the story, de Lairesse's picture can
be shown to have conspicuously neglected the role of the physician, Erasistratus, who here
appears as a mere stand — in behind the figurę of the noble queen. In the main example of the
Italian elassicistie tradition of the Seicento, that of Piętro da Cortona — which de Lairesse
undonbtedly knew — considerable emphasis was laid on the discovery of the cause of the youth's
malady by the physician, who was represented taking his pulse and watching him closely10. In
fact, in a few compof itions this feature of the story took precedence over the cession of Strato-
nice by her husband (Celesti or Behicci11, Sebastiano Ricci)12. But in generał, artists endea-
vored to combine both main points as convincingly ;-.nd successfully as possible, even
though it is evident that this can be done only at the cost of a strictly rea-
listic rendering, i.e., with the help of a „telescoping" device such as the elaspicistie
tradition was wont to tolerate, even to prefer, and which it had even learnt to reconcile with
10 . Florence, Pallazzo Pi tti, Sala di Ycnere; St., p. 227 and fig. 3. The coupling of our subject with olher examplcs of heroic
continence whicjl is found in this decoration was continued in seventeenth century Flemish tapestries; see the various
series ofthis kind mentionri in J.Denuce. Antwerp Art-Tapestry and Trade(Hislorical Sourc£f for the Siudy of Flemisk
Art, IV), Antwerp, 1936, index s.v. Antiochus.
11. Kassel, Cat. 1958, n° 527 as Belucci; St., p. 228 and fig. 4 as Celesti. This may have been model of Goethe's Wilhelm
Meister painting: but sec St., p. 233 f.
12. Parma,Universitity; St. p. 228 and fig. 5. See also the picture by Simone Pignor' discussed below.
6